Overview

• Mumbai’s affordability index improved from 50% to 48% in H1 2025 following a cumulative 100 basis point repo rate cut, marking its best level since 2010
• An average 1,184 sq ft home in Mumbai now costs over Rs 3.5 crore, forcing the top 5% of urban families to save 30% of their income for 109 years to afford it
• Knight Frank’s H1 2025 data ranks Ahmedabad (18%), Pune (22%) and Kolkata (23%) as the most affordable among eight major cities while NCR’s ratio worsened to 28%
• Chandigarh remains the most accessible state capital with a 15-year savings horizon for an average home, in contrast to more than 30 years in ten other capitals
• Experts point to land scarcity, regulatory hurdles and speculative luxury demand from wealthy Indians and NRIs as key factors sustaining record-high prices and stress the need for targeted urban housing policy